The school gates loomed ahead, and beyond them a crowd of incoming students had already gathered. Most of them were girls, which made perfect sense. Only sorcery users could enroll here, and the ratio was roughly one boy for every five girls.
One of the boys spotted us and immediately began waving.
I recognized him at once.
Raising a hand in return, I quickened my pace.
As I approached, the sea of girls parted to either side, opening a path before me. My natural cowardice immediately surfaced. Instinctively, I started to bow, but the pressure of Chifumi’s gaze from behind forced me upright.
No. Absolutely not.
Ignoring the girls entirely, I headed straight toward my destination.
”Morning, Minoru,” Ryota greeted me with an easy grin.
”Morning, Ryota.” I returned the greeting with practiced composure. “Ready for high school?”
”You bet.” Ryota chuckled. “You too?”
He stood about as tall as Chifumi and still had the softer, rounder features of an early teenager. Compared to most of the “strong” boys in this world, he carried very little extra weight around his waist.
Okuma Ryota.
He was my best friend from middle school.
Once we entered middle school, our classes had become packed with Tsuyo-osu. Out of all of them, Ryota was the one person I connected with immediately.
”Oh, the class lists are up,” Ryota said. “Looks like we’re in the same class again.”
”No way?”
My surprise was genuine.
”Nice!”
We slapped hands before I checked the list myself.
Sure enough, our names were there together.
Twenty-five students per class.
Four boys.
Twenty-one girls.
The boys practically jumped off the page.
”And Chifumi’s in the same class too, right?” I asked.
”Obviously,” Chifumi replied smoothly. “Which means Rana-chan is with us too. I am looking forward to it.”
”Me too,” Rana answered with equal politeness. “Let’s have a good year.”
Chifumi barely spared me a glance before turning her attention to the girl standing beside Ryota.
That was Yamada Rana.
Tall, heavyset, and the undisputed queen of Ryota’s social circle.
She and Chifumi were surprisingly close.
”Takino-san, you’re as cute as ever,” Ryota said.
”And Yamada-san, your uniform suits you perfectly,” I added.
Ryota and I exchanged a knowing look.
This was one of the reasons we got along so well.
We understood each other’s preferences.
Ryota belonged firmly to the Fat Supremacy faction. The larger the girl, the better. He surrounded himself with girls possessing imposing physiques, and Rana was his undisputed favorite. According to him, she represented the pinnacle of feminine beauty—a miraculous body line.
If she had existed in my previous world, she would have been considered the type with an ordinary face but an absolutely explosive figure.
As for me, people misunderstood me as some kind of extreme face enthusiast.
I did not care whether a girl’s build was thin or heavy. If her face was beautiful, that alone was enough to catch my attention.
Chifumi lacked what this world would call proper “volume,” but that did not bother me in the slightest.
Naturally, everyone assumed I valued her because she was attractive despite her supposedly unfortunate physique.
The misunderstanding only grew worse because Aika and the others were beautiful as well.
At some point, the rumors became impossible to stop.
I never bothered correcting them.
Being known as a face-con was infinitely preferable to being labeled a skinny-girl enthusiast.
Since our preferences never overlapped, Ryota and I never had reason to compete.
We were simply two guys burdened with different versions of the same problem.
”Minoru~?” Chifumi sang.
A dangerous smile spread across her face.
”Did you just say Rana-chan’s uniform suits her? You have not complimented mine yet, but you rushed to praise her first? Why is that, I wonder~?”
”Ryota…” Rana puffed out her cheeks slightly. “Am I not cute?”
The two of them had ears sharper than hunting dogs.
The sudden cross-examination sent a chill down my spine.
Judging from the panic on Ryota’s face, he was experiencing the exact same thing.
Our eyes met.
No words were needed.
Retreat.
”Minoru, let’s get to the classroom!” Ryota said quickly.
”Excellent idea.”
I nodded at once.
”Let’s go. Immediately.”
”Ah, running away again, are we~?” Chifumi called after us in a singsong voice.
”You two are terrible,” Rana added.
Neither of us looked back.
”Ryota…” I muttered as we escaped.
”Do not say anything,” he replied.
We left their complaints behind and hurried toward the classroom.
When I glanced back once, the girls were already standing by the class list again, chatting as though nothing had happened.
Apparently, they had decided not to pursue us.
For now, at least.
Summary:
Minoru and Ryota meet at the school entrance and confirm they are in the same class. They exchange banter about their personal preferences regarding women’s body types, narrowly avoiding a confrontation with their female peers, Chifumi and Rana. They successfully retreat to their classroom, leaving the girls behind at the announcement board.
Trivia:
The school has a strict 1:5 male-to-female ratio for students.
Only sorcery users are eligible for admission to this institution.
Minoru and Ryota’s friendship is built on their shared understanding of each other’s distinct, non-competitive romantic preferences.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ The term ‘sorcery user’ refers to the specific class of individuals capable of enrolling in the school, functioning as a marker of elite status in this world.